# Seasoning Humidor- Current Humidity over 90% (Am I ready)



## h20wakebum (Feb 12, 2012)

Hi all,

Digital Hygro has been salt tested and accurate (also has been tested in a local B&M in their walk in humidor.

With a bowl of distilled water AND paper towls in the bowl, I'm sitting at over 90%.

Is this the point that I can take out the bowl leaving only the humidifer in for 24 hours to see how it reacts.

If It drops down and stablizes around 65-72% I'm good to go, correct? Throw the sticks in and wait away.

OR, should i let it sit for another 48 hours or so before doing anything?

I wasn't sure if humidity that high might cause mold or something bad.

Thanks,
RR


----------



## StogieNinja (Jul 29, 2009)

Yeah, you should be just fine to remove the water and see what it does. If you are going to use beads or KL, you can throw those in as well now and let them bring the rH down and charge at the same time.


----------



## h20wakebum (Feb 12, 2012)

I'm going to LA tonight to see the GF, would it be bad to NOT take out the water and just let it sit shut for another 24 hours?

Also, another member mentioned that the cigar mechanic product does not "give and take" humidity, but on their site it states that it does both, takes humidity when too high and releases when too low... 

Should i use a different humidification device? Any thoughts/recommendations?

Thanks Ninja!


----------



## socalocmatt (Dec 22, 2010)

cigar mechanic is bidirectional and will give/take. You can just take the water out and leave it for the night. Worst case is that the wood will soak up too much but you can bring it down with KL.


----------



## TonyBrooklyn (Jan 28, 2010)

When i season a humidor i like to see the R/H hold for at least 24 hrs 72 is better IMHO.


----------



## h20wakebum (Feb 12, 2012)

TonyBrooklyn said:


> When i season a humidor i like to see the R/H hold for at least 24 hrs 72 is better IMHO.


So... I have already saturated my humidifier with distilled water.

Here's what i'll do.

Tonight at 5 when I get home, I'll take the water out of the humidor and let the unit sit closed from 5pm until tomorrow at 5pm WITH the humidifier in the unit.

If the humidity is around 72 I'll throw my sticks in (acceptable range will be 65-75... assuming adding cigars will drop the humidity a few points).

Does that sound good?

What should i do if the humidity is still REALLY high tomorrow at 5pm (after leaving only the humidifier in it) say over 80?

-RR


----------



## TonyBrooklyn (Jan 28, 2010)

h20wakebum said:


> So... I have already saturated my humidifier with distilled water.
> 
> Here's what i'll do.
> 
> ...


My concern has always been that the wood of the new humidor is properly saturated{seasoned} as long as the R/H you have now be it 70, 80, 90 is holding steady for the required length of time 24 least 72 hrs most. Then pull the water out then put in you beads or Kitty Litter when you have brought the R/H to the desired level. Then add your cigars in this way the environment is stable. So as the wood does not draw moisture from your cigars. I have seen many think the wood was seasoned because the R/H was right or so they thought. Only to find a week or two later that the wood was stealing moisture from their cigars.


----------



## h20wakebum (Feb 12, 2012)

I want to make sure I am understanding you correctly...

If my RH is still in the high 80's/low 90's when I get home from work tonight... I can assume my wood is saturated (as that'll have been over 24 hrs. it's been at those levels.

If so, take out water, leave beads in and keep it shut for 24 hours and see how it's doing (I use cigar mechanic humidifer, I don't have kitty litter. For a 50 ct. humidor, I'm thinking that will probably do the job just fine? I live in Santa Barbara and humidity here is fairly low, in the house it's around 50-60). 

You mention "Then pull the water out then put in you beads or Kitty Litter when you have brought the R/H to the desired level"... How do I bring it to the desired level? I was assuming that when I take the water out and leave the beads in... the humidity will change naturally... Won't i be monitoring the humidity to see how it changes? I guess I'm just wondering HOW I would bring it to a "desired level". I take water out, leave beads in... humidity will change probably go down... but not really a way to MAKE it get to what I want...?

Once I leave humidifier in for 24-48 hours and the humidity is staying at a stable level of 65-75... I should be good to add cigars then right?

Sorry If I'm making this confusing... but i really apprecaite your help/advice!!! I want to make sure I do it right.


----------



## h20wakebum (Feb 12, 2012)

TonyBrooklyn said:


> Only to find a week or two later that the wood was stealing moisture from their cigars.


How would you tell the wood was stealing moisture from the cigar (would the cigar start cracking)? OR... say I put the cigars in to the box while humidity was showing 72%... then a week later I look and the humidity is at 60%... Is that what you mean?

So as long as humidity is stable for 72 hours (with the water dish IN the unit) at say 70/80 OR 90... and after taking out the water dish leaving only the humidifier in the unit for 72 hours and THAT too stays stable at 72% for instance... I should then be safe to add sticks? At that point I SHOULDN'T see after adding the sticks a week later my humidity drop to say 60% and thus mean my sticks got their moisture robbed?


----------



## TonyBrooklyn (Jan 28, 2010)

h20wakebum said:


> How would you tell the wood was stealing moisture from the cigar (would the cigar start cracking)? OR... say I put the cigars in to the box while humidity was showing 72%... then a week later I look and the humidity is at 60%... Is that what you mean?
> 
> So as long as humidity is stable for 72 hours (with the water dish IN the unit) at say 70/80 OR 90... and after taking out the water dish leaving only the humidifier in the unit for 72 hours and THAT too stays stable at 72% for instance... I should then be safe to add sticks? At that point I SHOULDN'T see after adding the sticks a week later my humidity drop to say 60% and thus mean my sticks got their moisture robbed?


Correct!
You learn fast kid i love helping people! But people who pay attention and really apply themselves are a pleasure!


----------



## h20wakebum (Feb 12, 2012)

TonyBrooklyn said:


> Correct!
> You learn fast kid i love helping people! But people who pay attention and really apply themselves are a pleasure!


You bet!

If I'm going to do it, I want to do it right.

Don't want those nice sticks I brought back from overseas to get ruined ;-).

My fear is that as of right now, all my sticks are sitting in an otterbox caddy (in zip lock bags) and they'll go bad.

I bought them from a store which had them in a humidor so to me I'm freaking out because I'm not keeping them in a humidor at perfect humidity (it might be up to 2 weeks that they'll be in the caddy while i season my humidor).

From what I've heard however... they won't be damaged NOT being in a humidor for a few weeks. Is this a fair statement?

I went home at lunch and looked at the humidor and it went from 87% down to 77% in the few minutes i had it opened. This makes me think i should leave the water dish in it for another few days as I didn't like seeing that huge drop, do you agree?

-RR


----------



## Flapjack23 (Jan 18, 2012)

IMO the sticks will be OK for a few weeks. Try to keep a decent humidity level in the otterbox and you should be OK. Keep in mind with water...its always trying to go from an area of higher concentration to an area of lower concentration...from inside your humidor to outside your humidor. With a good seal on the top, its going to move through the wood to get out. If you have your wood holding enough moisture to maintain 90% humidity (fully saturated, not just the inner face) and add your humidity device (beads or whatever), and sticks, the humidity will move until everything finds equilibrium (hopefully governed by the beads/device inside it). Thats how it stabilizes. I dont think if you over humidify to start and add beads/device to let it stabilize you cause any problems. 


Sorry I'm rambling...had a few drinks tonight.


Couple points...store humidity is probably not as good/accurate as yours.
...No problem in the otterbox for a few weeks as long as you maintain decent humidity level
...Humidity will drop if you have humidor opened for a few minutes. Check it once a day, patience is key.
...Once you have humidifier in and maintain humidity level, add sticks. It will change when you add them...patience is key...


----------



## h20wakebum (Feb 12, 2012)

Flapjack23 said:


> IMO the sticks will be OK for a few weeks. Try to keep a decent humidity level in the otterbox and you should be OK. Keep in mind with water...its always trying to go from an area of higher concentration to an area of lower concentration...from inside your humidor to outside your humidor. With a good seal on the top, its going to move through the wood to get out. If you have your wood holding enough moisture to maintain 90% humidity (fully saturated, not just the inner face) and add your humidity device (beads or whatever), and sticks, the humidity will move until everything finds equilibrium (hopefully governed by the beads/device inside it). Thats how it stabilizes. I dont think if you over humidify to start and add beads/device to let it stabilize you cause any problems.
> 
> Sorry I'm rambling...had a few drinks tonight.
> 
> ...


Any suggestions for the otterbox caddy?

Should i throw my 72% boveda bag in there?

As of now, I have no humidification device in the otterbox.

If I use the boveda bag in there... Should i take the cigars out of the ziplock bags?

I am not sure if the moisture will get through seales zip locks.

Thanks,
RR


----------



## TonyBrooklyn (Jan 28, 2010)

h20wakebum said:


> You bet!
> 
> If I'm going to do it, I want to do it right.
> 
> ...


Put a Boveda pack with your cigars they will be fine. As far as the drop you mention all depends how dry the outside air is where you are. As long as the humidor holds steady R/H for the time we spoke of you should be fine.


----------

